Top 20 Craziest Kaiju: Number 2

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Gamera

Gamera! Gamera!
You’re so groovy, Gamera!
You’re so groovy, Gamera!
You are groovy, Gamera!
Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury
There’s a big monster headed our way
Coming out of deep freeze
Whether we like it or not
Here it comes, flying down
Go! Go! Go!
Down it with jet flame
Groovy, groovy Gamera!
Groovy, groovy Gamera!
You are groovy, Gamera!

The creators of this Japanese kaiju hero, the “friend of children”, were either big-time drug users or had incredible imaginations. In their attempt to rip off the success of Toho’s Gojira (Godzilla) but to do something different with the concept, Daiei Studios came up with something very different indeed! A giant fireball-spewing, often bi-pedal, jet-propelled flying turtle from space! (Or, in Kaneko’s superior 1990s trilogy, a bio-engineered Gaia figure, designed to protect the Earth.) The huge lumbering creature retracts his legs, shoots flames from the holes and takes to the air, spinning like a giant nuclear-powered top. All you strange supporting kaiju villains beware! Groovy!

A collection of Gamera trailers (US versions):

Gamera vs Zigra trailer (original Japanese version):

And the trailer for what might be the best daikaiju eiga of all time, Gamera 3: Iris kakusei (1999; dir. Shusuke Kaneko) [aka Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris):